Ok, so this is a topic that I feel is long overdue. But since I just recently joined SS... anyway, on with the topic! So my problem is with spew, I mean did no one notice it's complete absence from the movies?? In my opinion it really shows Hermiones character and I was very angry when I found out they had neglected to mention it at all. I understand hey it's a movie, they can't put everything in! But spew showed many things about the characters, and in my opinion the house elves and their masters which shouldn't just be tossed aside! The movies could've been extended a little bit, I mean there are longer movies out there! Anyone agree with me?

I agree to some extent. With the movie, we don't really see Hermoine in real depth, and S.P.E.W does show Hermoine's morals - however, I've posted in a few other forums, movies just can't include as many sub-plots as books can. The films are only focusing on the main plot(s) of the books.
OOTP had to take quite a bit out.

St Mungo's (which would have meant seeing Neville and Lockhart)
Firenze becoming a teacher
All of the Quiddich, and Ron's confidence crisis (which shows just of much of his character, as S.P.E.W does of Hermoine's).

I agree, it would have been nice to see it, but in a film, I don't think we could.

Dont agree with "films cant contain everything", I mean c'mon, how long would it be to show Hermione making socks? It'd be maximum 6-7 minutes to show S.P.E.W.
Firenze'd not be long too, maximum 10 minutes.
St. Mungo'd be like 10 minutes?
But Quidditch is long, yes.

I too think SPEW is a big part of Hermione's character... and when Ron and Hemmione kissed in DH, it was because Ron was concerned about the house-elves. What will they do in the movie?

yeah i read the book after the movie and found it to be better because i found out about the characters and the other characters and what not... though i think BOTH could have shown hufflepuff a bit more! i mean honestly, besides cedric you dont see hufflepuff much. you find out where all the other common rooms are but not hufflepuff so spew and hufflepuffs need to be shown more!

I think it is a big part, too. They could have had just a small part in it because it wouldn't have taken that much time.

yeah, they cut a lot of the elfy bits out. they change it so that neville gives harry the gillyweed instead of dobby, and they didnt have dobby and kreature tailing malfoy in the HBP (which i would have loved to see because they have a fight which is just comedy in its rawest form. elfy fights. haha) so yeah, i agree with youu

I think they've done alright with the films really. These are increasingly large books and you can't fit in everything. I just imagine these extra things going on in the background - the advantage of having read the books I suppose.

Yes, I agree. I didn't think it was THAT important to the MOVIE though, since the whole Winky story was omitted. But it would've been good in the movies.

I was thinking about that also. Like everyone else was saying, it's not a huge part of the book. But, it wouldn't hurt to put in the movie.

As nice as it would be to include such interesting scenes, they are a bit lengthy, and as a film-maker, one needs to figure out what's important and what's not. One also needs to take into consideration the attention span of the ordinary child, teenager, and adult.

You say you'd love for all of these scenes to be in movies now, but what would happen if almost every aspect of the books were put into the movie? Let's use OoTP as an example.

You want add S.P.E.W., Ron and Quidditch, Firenze, St. Mungo's. At the most, each of these might be around 10 to 15 minutes, 20 minutes max, correct? That would mean you'd be add 40 to 80 minutes to the movie, which is basically adding another hour or more. Each Harry Potter film is already 2 hours and 30 minutes. The ordinary person will not be willing to sit around for 3 or 4 hours watching a movie. Granted, intermissions might be around but even then, in some places an intermission might not be such a good idea. So, imagine yourself sitting in a chair for 3-4 hours straight. No matter how dedicated you, you, as a normal human being, will be frustrated and wish for the movie to end already.

Thus, the filmmakers are right in leaving out a ton of details.

That pretty much sums up another reason on why they cannot add as much as they, themselves, and fans would want. It's just impossible. Not to mention, it's a lot of money to add that much more time to the films. It'd be nice to see it but...eeep. It wouldn't work out so well.

I, too, thought Spew was a big deal when it made its first appearance in the fourth book and figured it would go on to be a big thing. When I went to see the fourth Harry Potter film, I was looking for it... and it wasn't there at all. I realized then that J.K. (whom the scriptwriter consulted about these things of course) must not have had big plans for it.

And, truth be told, it never really develops into anything other than an amusing subplot. While I'm a bit disappointed in this fact, I can't deny it.

Saawariya's points are correct, and the scriptwriter did the right thing by leaving it out. It simply isn't important enough in the books to merit inclusion.

i was REALLY mad when they did that, because now Dobby plays a CRUCIAL part in the last movie, saving the trio from Malfoy manor, and what are they gonna do, reintroduce him after FIVE movies?! and SPEW should have been done, even in passing. Maybe they'll have Hermione start it in the last movie, though it would be a bit pointless, really...

yes i think SPEW and winky is important. also St. Mungo's. it will tell so much about Neville.

I wonder how they will now prompt the kiss in Deathly Hallows? Will they still use Ron's house-elves comment, but with no real context for it, or will they use entirely new convention?

I'ts strange that in the POA Harry gets his firebolt at the end. But in the book he gets it half way through!